We are a community that works. We have major industry along a big part of our waterfront and we are part of Canada’s gateway to the Pacific Rim. Hundreds of livelihoods in our community and thousands in the rest of the country depend upon reasonable access to port facilities and the efficient transhipment of a variety of cargos through the port facilities on the North Shore.

The Low Level Road has not been upgraded in over 50 years. It is at the base of an unstable bank and the at-grade level crossings of the railroad tracks are a life threatening hazard to the people who have to get to their jobs on the other side of the tracks.

Something has to happen. Whatever is done should minimize the impact on the community above the road, perhaps even enhance those communities with improved access and the completion of the Spirit Trail. We won’t know what is possible until the up to $5 million worth of research and design work is completed sometime in the new year. When the options are known, there needs to be a full and thorough public process. And then some potentially tough decisions will have to be made. Those decisions should be made with the interests of the whole community in mind and appropriate relief to anyone who might be affected.